16mm Film

It's a format that seems to illicit a lot of old school porn projection. That was really regular 16mm. If you go Super 16mm that's a higher class of porn. Porn that needed to be transferred to VHS.

16mm is a film gauge that is roughly half the size of 35mm. It was made for economical reasons in shooting educational videos or documentaries. For the most part, the format was considered sub-par until the late 60's where you could make a full narrative feature on it and then have to blow up to 35mm (since not many theaters, save for porn houses project 16mm).

I love the format, because it's so very specific. It is grainy but still retains a gloss to it. We did some test of movie set in the 1970's. The stand-in actors were in 70's garb next to vintage 70's. IT IS BEAUTIFUL. Even on a base color grade, I saw the image from across the room. It has...a grit and bold color statement that is noticeable. A digital capture is pretty flat. Since you see so much in the shadow detail, it has to turn a little "milky." It's only after years where dye tends to fade. Or poor storage exacerbates it.

The format was also very popular in the 80-90's for television. "Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman" was on 16mm, as was "Sledgehammer"'s second sesason. More recently "The Walking Dead" embraced that format, since it really helps with the makeup effects. If you re-watch the first season, it STILL looks fresh. Digital technology moves so fast, it's hard to see anything from early days of digital and approve of the look. No one seems to take this into account. Well, maybe they do and just choose to ignore it. I would say even the movies of the 70's that originated in 16mm would be relevant given a simple scan. But that would sort of ruin the effect for me. These need to go to print.

I really dig the look of 16mm film. It is a format that seems to take people back because of the grain issue. I like the grit. A lot of old timers are coming around to not have to deal with the unruly nature of the film. I get that...as a filmmaker, the last thing you want to do is worry about the results due to fading infrastructure. Suppose a storyteller should only care about storytelling. Give 16mm a chance.